Returning to my influence series of posts with another very big one...family.
Some are much more family oriented then others, but all are shaped by their family. Especially in the younger years.
I love my family; they are amazing. I can easily say I would not be a Christ follower today if it weren't for my mom, dad, and two older brothers. It is easy to see in my parents parenting styles the type of love Christ has for his children. I understand how foreign of a concept (that is, the type of love God displays) this is to a lot of people, but it never has been in my life thanks to my family.
How has your family influenced you? Alot of people do not have the best of stories concerning this topic, but I do believe every family (immediate or otherwise) has given you some sort of positive encouragement. And chances are, if your entire world were to fall around you, they would support you to the best of their abilities.
I also think a family is easy to take for granted and not be thankful for. But the fact of the matter is, a family is a group of people that no matter the circumstances you should be always thankful for. If I were to stop and think of all that my (and every for that matter) family has sacrificed without me giving anything in return, that statistic would be daunting. Thankfulness would be the only response one could have I would imagine.
God's views of a family are very heavily child-based. That is to say, He is very concerned with how we will raise our family and gives us much instruction on how to do so...
Deuteronomy 4:9-10
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.
Provers 3:1-4
My son, forget not my teaching, keep in mind my commands; For many days, and years of life, and peace, will they bring you. Let not kindness and fidelity leave you; bind them around your neck; Then will you win favor and good esteem before God and man.
Psalm 133:1
How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
God is both clear and passionate about how we are to raise children. I have heard it said many times that a child is kind of like a blank canvas that is molded and shaped into who he/she will be as an adult, and how much harder it is to change who you are as one! My children will love God; don't have many doubts of that. And I will take cue's from what I have learned from my family in the process!
Showing posts with label Influences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Influences. Show all posts
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Friday, October 29, 2010
Influences-Work
So as probably alot of you know, I (somewhat) recently started a new position with the company I work for, Genesis Fiber Optics.
It has been a ride to say the least, but I LOVE it nonetheless!
To backtrack a little, for the past oh....6 years or so I have been one of the guys in the field. (doing things like fiber repairs, inside splicing/installs/troubleshooting and so on)
Right around mid-way through my DC experience I started to hate it....like, really hate it. I didn't look forward to work, tried to come in as late as possible and leave as early as possible. I hated the company we worked for, the 24/7 on-call schedule,...pretty much everything about it. BUT, the job provided such an amazing life outside of work I told myself "it's ok if I don't LOVE my job...
I can tolerate it for what it provides."....ugh, what a mistake.
The problem with that viewpoint (as I see it now) is that eventually, doing a job you hate (no matter what it provides) kills you as a person. I've seen some scary examples of what a person can turn into after years and years of a passionless profession.
Work is one of the more influential of all my influence topics I will write about. It's what you do with most of your day, and will ultimately play one of the biggest roles of who you are as a person.
One of the things I did (and would highly advise against doing) is lie to myself about my honest views of what I did were, mixed with the false belief that I could do nothing else. I think another popular lie is to do what you hate for your family/kids/spouse Etc. I mean, not say there are crappy temporary jobs out there (there definitely are) but to realize they most certainly are temporary. (While also rejoicing that you have that temporary job.)
To work and provide for your family is not only what we are called to do as men, (if you happen to be of the gender) but also honoring to God. However, I don't believe it's in His plan to have us do this with no passion for our profession because ultimately, it leads to no passion for anything else in our lives....(I mean, it makes sense right? It's what your doing for most of your day)
God doesn't want us to be miserable
Deuteronomy 15:10
Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
What made me come to this realization of what I did and didn't love, came about by me doing something I actually enjoyed (as of now, Admin and AP/AR) and compared it to how I felt doing something I did not....Unfortunately I am rather hard-headed and if God didn't allow that opportunity for me, I would have likely kept right on going till who knows what happened....
My brother Paul (actually I am sure this is a fairly popular quote) loves to say that "if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life." Seeing people do what God has designed them for, I believe it. I know for sure God has gifted each one of us uniquely to play the part of furthering his kingdom....and doing so, brings the kind of joy every single one of us was designed to desire, not the happiness the world says you need.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
It has been a ride to say the least, but I LOVE it nonetheless!
To backtrack a little, for the past oh....6 years or so I have been one of the guys in the field. (doing things like fiber repairs, inside splicing/installs/troubleshooting and so on)
Right around mid-way through my DC experience I started to hate it....like, really hate it. I didn't look forward to work, tried to come in as late as possible and leave as early as possible. I hated the company we worked for, the 24/7 on-call schedule,...pretty much everything about it. BUT, the job provided such an amazing life outside of work I told myself "it's ok if I don't LOVE my job...
I can tolerate it for what it provides."....ugh, what a mistake.
The problem with that viewpoint (as I see it now) is that eventually, doing a job you hate (no matter what it provides) kills you as a person. I've seen some scary examples of what a person can turn into after years and years of a passionless profession.
Work is one of the more influential of all my influence topics I will write about. It's what you do with most of your day, and will ultimately play one of the biggest roles of who you are as a person.
One of the things I did (and would highly advise against doing) is lie to myself about my honest views of what I did were, mixed with the false belief that I could do nothing else. I think another popular lie is to do what you hate for your family/kids/spouse Etc. I mean, not say there are crappy temporary jobs out there (there definitely are) but to realize they most certainly are temporary. (While also rejoicing that you have that temporary job.)
To work and provide for your family is not only what we are called to do as men, (if you happen to be of the gender) but also honoring to God. However, I don't believe it's in His plan to have us do this with no passion for our profession because ultimately, it leads to no passion for anything else in our lives....(I mean, it makes sense right? It's what your doing for most of your day)
God doesn't want us to be miserable
Deuteronomy 15:10
Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
What made me come to this realization of what I did and didn't love, came about by me doing something I actually enjoyed (as of now, Admin and AP/AR) and compared it to how I felt doing something I did not....Unfortunately I am rather hard-headed and if God didn't allow that opportunity for me, I would have likely kept right on going till who knows what happened....
My brother Paul (actually I am sure this is a fairly popular quote) loves to say that "if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life." Seeing people do what God has designed them for, I believe it. I know for sure God has gifted each one of us uniquely to play the part of furthering his kingdom....and doing so, brings the kind of joy every single one of us was designed to desire, not the happiness the world says you need.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Influences-Music
Part two of my series of influential things. This time around its music.
The question for me on this topic is what do I think about when listening to a song? Unfortunately I can never just listen to music per say, but a song will almost always spur on a thought branch where I end up more thinking to a song that will towards the end become background music.
Depending on the type of music I listen to will influence what I think about, and thought life is essential
Like some sort of weird filing system, I associate events, people, times, places, and seasons of life to music. Heh. A few select people in the world knew me at a time where my music choices were....less then substantiate. I remember in those times how not ok my thought life was.
I think music is one of those things that work both as an influencer and a reflector of what has influenced you in life. As life changes, its interesting to see how my tastes change. Infact, I keep alot of old music around that I never listen to anymore to remind me where I came from, and to laugh at myself....:)
I guess as your goals change as a person, you listen to music that support your thought life and lifestyle....
I love to know what kind of music friends listen to! It's a great indicator of what kind of person they are.
One of the main ways I worship is with music. I believe this is what music was created for, to give praise to God. When church hunting (I am currently in the process of replacing the word "shop" with the word "hunt" to imply manliness) one of the main things I just couldn't overlook was how the worship was. Every church worships God differently, but I'm glad He lead me to one that I really enjoy. Even this blog is named after a song.... permeates everything about me, and influences my thought life, mood, and day.
Thats it I suppose...Till next time!
P.S. Read this its pretty awesome, and written by a key influencer in my life :)
The question for me on this topic is what do I think about when listening to a song? Unfortunately I can never just listen to music per say, but a song will almost always spur on a thought branch where I end up more thinking to a song that will towards the end become background music.
Depending on the type of music I listen to will influence what I think about, and thought life is essential
Like some sort of weird filing system, I associate events, people, times, places, and seasons of life to music. Heh. A few select people in the world knew me at a time where my music choices were....less then substantiate. I remember in those times how not ok my thought life was.
I think music is one of those things that work both as an influencer and a reflector of what has influenced you in life. As life changes, its interesting to see how my tastes change. Infact, I keep alot of old music around that I never listen to anymore to remind me where I came from, and to laugh at myself....:)
I guess as your goals change as a person, you listen to music that support your thought life and lifestyle....
I love to know what kind of music friends listen to! It's a great indicator of what kind of person they are.
One of the main ways I worship is with music. I believe this is what music was created for, to give praise to God. When church hunting (I am currently in the process of replacing the word "shop" with the word "hunt" to imply manliness) one of the main things I just couldn't overlook was how the worship was. Every church worships God differently, but I'm glad He lead me to one that I really enjoy. Even this blog is named after a song.... permeates everything about me, and influences my thought life, mood, and day.
Thats it I suppose...Till next time!
P.S. Read this its pretty awesome, and written by a key influencer in my life :)
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